Flow State and Passage of Time
I follow a comedy podcast called Three Bean Salad which is normally silly anecdotes and absurdist humour. However, in this episode at about the 4 minute mark, the hosts have a refreshingly profound-but-accessible discussion of the philosophy and psychology of flow state and the passage of time when you’re enjoying things.
They conclude that as a species, we generally look forward to entering this state and after we leave it we usually think “that was great” but when we are in a flow state our perception of time is impaired and hours can pass in seconds, whether you’re enjoying your favourite meal, playing sport, producing artwork or having a particularly productive day at work.
Since perceived passage of time is accelerated in flow states, this raises an interesting philosophical question. If we always aspire to be in a flow state, are we effectively “wishing our lives away?”